It’s time to pick up the pen again, I thought. I hadn’t really worked on anything meaningful since my first book, The Energy Plan, in 2019. 

Where to start…Where to start?

Well, as a small business owner within the field of human performance, many of my conversations each week are around what the future looks like; within sporting organisations, the business workplace and for our individual talent in both sport and entertainment.

What are the current and future problems we are facing within human performance, and how could new innovations help bridge the gap?

An advisor of mine recently laid down the gauntlet to me: “Present your thinking and rationale in public. It doesn’t need to be a published book or scientific paper, but get it out there.”

So that’s what this is. To share some of the insights and conversations I’m having within my different projects, from both a business and wider cultural perspective.

So who is this for? Well, it’s primarily for those interested in the business of human performance; from private equity and other investors to founders, executive teams, and anyone who believes in maximising human potential in a sustainable way.

But I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t also for me – as a vehicle to share more of my ideas and see what resonates within our ever changing industry.

Network diversity 

I’ve always been one of those people who has invested a lot of time into my network. There’s nothing more I enjoy than meeting for a flat white (extra-hot!), problem solving and sharing advice. You know, really getting into the detail…

My first role with the English Institute of Sport (EIS) back in 2006 working with Olympic teams, really moulded my thinking on the importance of my network – in fact many of the colleagues I worked with 15 years ago, I still work with most closely today. 

I’ve always firmly believed that this network should also be as diverse as possible – that much more can be learned outside of colleagues with similar domain expertise; business strategy from CEO’s, contracts and negotiation from lawyers, innovation from media groups, the power of story from marketing specialists, and wordplay from musicians.

Also it’s crucial that diversity is really embraced through different genders, ethnicities, backgrounds and perspectives, within our networks.

Industry agnostic 

Although my early work started in elite sport, in particular football, joining Arsenal FC in 2010 as the clubs first nutritionist, or consulting with England or France national football teams, upon reflection some of my most rewarding experiences have been away from it.

Working with Stormzy leading into his iconic Glastonbury Headliner, or my consultancy INTRA Performance Group working with Matt Fitzpatrick towards his 2022 US Open win, or an industry award nomination for our debut corporate programme with Lloyds Banking Group.

Alongside my work within elite sport, I’ve maintained a private practice on Harley St for over a decade, seeing people from all walks of life. I’ve always believed that having ‘1 foot in and 1 foot out’ of high performance sport is important to stay sharp. As each setting requires a very different skill set.

When I set my private practice back in 2012, initially my focus was testing our principles and models from elite sport, to see how much of this could be applied to the general population (e.g. weekend warrior or business executive). And as it turns out, quite a lot, for those that are ready to embrace it…

I started writing a column for The Telegraph in 2017 on this transfer, before being approached by Penguin Random House to write a book on applying nutrition from elite sport to the general public.

I remember a group of us sitting in their Penguin editor’s office in Vauxhall really brainstorming what the key hook for the book should be. It was perhaps the most obvious but often overlooked theme – the currency we all want more of – Energy!

As I sit here now on a pretty overcast day in Marylebone (Central London), I’d definitely class myself as industry agnostic. I actually think this is my favourite phrase recently. With INTRA, we enjoy working with new clients to apply our principles in human performance and nutrition (I will come back to our models in future articles).

Most importantly however, I/we enjoy working with progressive new clients to help them break new ground…whether this is in a stadium, arena, office or home.

The future

So what about the future?

As I mentioned at the top of article, I’m fascinated to see where our industry of human performance is heading over the next decade.

When will see corporate wellness initiatives move past a misguided tapas selection of ‘perks’ and towards integrated human performance services that we see within sport?

How will the rapid advancements in AI be adopted within human performance?

McKinsey recently highlighted Applied AI with its top technology trends. Generative AI has hit the mainstream in recent months, with the AI chatbot ChatGPT (example below) from Microsoft-backed OpenAI racing to 100 million monthly active users just 2 months post-launch, which is suggested to be the fastest growing consumer app in history.

OpenAI have also produced DALL·E 2 an AI system which generates images based on text descriptions. For the headline image in this article I used the prompt; “rubik cube made of berries, professional food photography”. These are of course just two recent examples.

At the time of writing, OpenAI have just launched it’s latest update, GPT-4, its technology already embedded within products such as Duolingo and Stripe. I can’t wait to started with this and to see if/how this emerging technology can help our industry.

This of course brings us to the important issue of personal data. What it is and how it can be protected, when we are allowing apps further access into our lives than perhaps we realise? Even taking this one step further and understanding how protecting our brain data and ‘neuro-rights’ may become an important issue in future.

More broadly within elite sport, how are new developments such as FIFPRO’s recent Charter of Player Data rights, changing how athletes and teams access data? You might guessed, I’m very interested in rights around personal data, from ownership to how it’s used.

Traversing into physical products. Anyone with a pulse will have witnessed new disruptive approaches consumer packaged goods (CPG) recently. PRIME Hydration led by YouTube star’s Logan Paul and KSI recently had their first Super Bowl ad alongside significant partnerships within professional sport with UFC and Arsenal FC.

This bold new model has got everyone talking, but is type of ‘talent-led’ model here to stay? We’ll explore some of the important considerations around talent/celebrity-led brands. 

Finally, how can human performance align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a meaningful way. We are currently working on a project within elite sport that I’m looking forward to sharing as part of a wider future post.

So as I wrap up this piece, there are, for sure, more questions than answers, which is the intention…we’ve lots to discuss in future weeks/months!

Until then…

James